Israel recalls three European envoys over Palestine support; Houthis have weapons ‘that can reach Mediterranean Sea’

The Houthi militants in Yemen have weapons that can reach as far as the Mediterranean Sea, according to a senior US defence official, lending some credence to the group’s threats that it can expand its attacks on shipping beyond its immediate borders.

The US has softened its earlier resistance to a broader Israeli military operation in Rafah following efforts by Israel to reduce the civilian toll of the assault, a US official said.

Israel recalls Ireland, Norway, Spain envoys over Palestine

Israel recalled its ambassadors to Ireland, Norway and Spain after they announced they would recognise a Palestinian state.

The coordinated moves by the European nations underscore how Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza is focusing global attention on the issue of statehood for Palestinians and hurting Israel’s relations with the rest of the world.

“Israel will not be complacent against those who undermine its sovereignty and endanger its security,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday in a statement. The countries were sending a message that “terrorism pays”.

Around 140 nations already recognise a Palestinian state, but very few in Europe have. Among them are Hungary and Sweden.

“This is a historic and important day for Ireland and for Palestine,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris told reporters on Wednesday morning. “It is an expression of our view that Palestine holds and should be able to vindicate the full rights to the state, including self-determination, self-governance, territorial integrity and security.”

Ireland, Norway and Spain plan to formally recognise a Palestinian state — comprising Gaza and the West Bank — on May 28.

Harris and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez reiterated calls for an end to the war in Gaza which is now in its eighth month and has devastated the Mediterranean enclave. They and Norway have been among the European countries most critical of Israel for continuing the conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war is necessary to destroy Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by the US and European Union.

Netanyahu has spent most of his life rejecting a Palestinian state, although in 2009 he said he’d accept a demilitarised one as long as the Palestinians recognized Israel as a Jewish state. The Palestinian leadership rejected that, and in recent years, Netanyahu and the Israeli public have stepped away from supporting two states.

This is due to the growth of religious nationalism in Israel and a sense that violent forces like Hamas would push aside more moderate parties in any Palestinian country. In addition, the refusal by the Palestinian Authority — which runs parts of the West Bank — to properly condemn Hamas’ attack of 7 October, which started the war, has solidified those concerns.

Israel controls many aspects of security in Gaza and the West Bank, including their air space. Its officials fear losing those powers if the Palestinians get an independent country and have argued that they would have far less ability to prevent 7 October-style assaults in the future.

The US, Israel’s most important ally, backs a two-state solution but says it can only come about through negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. In recent months, President Joe Biden has signalled a state of Palestine could be created with strict limits on its military forces so as to reassure Israel.

France’s government said that while “recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo” it did not yet think “conditions have been met for this decision to have a real impact”,

The decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain was praised by both the PA and Hamas, which nominally governs Gaza.

The PA said the recognitions were “in line with international law,” while Hamas said they were “an important step on the path of affirming our right to our land and an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”.

Sanchez stressed the decision was about “peace” and not made against Israel or in favour of Hamas. The Iran-backed organisation was a “terrorist group that must disappear”, he said.

Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin made similar comments, saying it should not be “misrepresented as a hostile act” toward Israel.

The conflict began when Hamas fighters swarmed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Since then, Israel’s air and ground offensive on Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Norway used to shy away from taking sides; Gaza changed that

By recognising Palestinian statehood, Norway may have closed the door on its historic role as a mediator in the Middle East.

The country’s emphasis on being able to speak to both sides in the long-running dispute is symbolised by the 1993 peace accords signed in Oslo. That “interim” arrangement — now more than 30 years old — serves as a reminder of its attempts to forge a permanent resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But after Norway announced on Wednesday that it would officially recognise Palestinian statehood — in coordination with some other European nations — Israel recalled its ambassador.

“With this symbolic action which has no real meaning, the government has completely played Norway out of its role as a potential peace broker in this conflict,” Sylvi Listhaug, the leader of the opposition Progress Party, said in an interview with VG newspaper.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the government still wanted “close contact” with Israel, and remained “a friend” of the Middle Eastern nation, according to the public broadcaster NRK.

“We can no longer wait for the conflict to be resolved before we recognise the state of Palestine,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told a news conference in Oslo, as Irish and Spanish government officials delivered similar announcements. “A Palestinian state is a prerequisite for achieving peace in the Middle East,” he said.

Although Norway was instrumental in the secret negotiations that led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority — the government body that was driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2006 — it hasn’t been able to spur any real progress toward peace in decades.

Still, the nation “has taken a leading role in mobilising European support” for a peace plan put forward by Israel’s Arab neighbours in the wake of the 7 October attacks, the government said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The country also hoped to “make some major progress” at a meeting that’s taking place in Brussels later this month.

Houthis ‘using weapons that can reach Mediterranean Sea’

The Houthi militants in Yemen have weapons that can reach as far as the Mediterranean Sea, according to a senior US defence official, lending some credence to the group’s threats that it can expand its attacks on shipping beyond its immediate borders.

The US government is concerned that the Iran-backed group has the capability to extend strikes on shipping beyond the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to the Mediterranean, said the official, who asked for anonymity to discuss private talks.

The official said Houthis had access to advanced weaponry and that their deployment of anti-ship ballistic missiles was virtually unprecedented. The group has also used drones in its attacks.

The assessment came as defence officials from the US and the Gulf Cooperation Council met on Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis earlier this month said they would expand their range to vessels in the eastern Mediterranean. The organisation began the attacks as a show of solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza war.

The Houthis have threatened vessels associated with Israel, the US and the UK since October, effectively closing the southern Red Sea to most Western ships. Shipping and freight executives increasingly think it will remain too dangerous for many more months, forcing them to skip the Suez Canal and go around southern Africa.

The Houthis receive military training and intelligence and radar support from Iran, which is crucial when targeting moving objects such as ships.

US encouraged by Israeli changes to plans for Rafah operation

The US has softened its earlier resistance to a broader Israeli military operation in Rafah following efforts by Israel to reduce the civilian toll of the assault, a US official said.

The shift followed weeks of warnings by President Joe Biden that a full-scale attack on the Gaza Strip border city where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter would prompt the US to suspend the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel.

But when National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and other top White House aides met with senior Israeli officials in recent days, they found that Israel had incorporated US humanitarian concerns into their plans, the US official said, requesting anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t public. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Rafah in recent weeks also helped allay concerns about the civilian toll of an assault, the official said.

Any sustained incursion is still likely to pose a political challenge for Biden, who has come under fire from progressives in his own party for his steadfast support of Israel despite mounting civilian casualties in Gaza. Earlier this month, Biden said in an interview with CNN that he would cut off the shipment of offensive weapons including artillery shells if Israel proceeded with an operation in the city, where Palestinian refugees have gathered following sustained bombing in other areas of Gaza.

The official did not detail the extent of Israeli operations that would be acceptable to the White House, and Biden has already said he was not concerned by limited efforts on the outskirts of the city. Ultimately, the US would evaluate any operation on the way it was carried out and Washington does not greenlight Israeli military actions, the official said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted the “pretty large exodus of people from Rafah” but said the US remained “very concerned about any major military operation and the impact it would have on the remaining population, given the dense urban environment in Rafah”. DM